Tuesday, March 31, 2020

OSR: Outsider Alignment


My Outsider Megapost has one real weakness, and that is because I haven't really written on the morality or culture of Outsiders.  This post is an attempt to correct that.

There are three types of Outsider: Angels, Demons and Spirits.  However, unlike mortals, who are often conflicted and contradictory, Outsiders are living exemplars of certain virtues, vices or ideals.  They are usually iron-willed and almost unable to compromise.  As such, Outsiders generally only inhabit the extremes of morality.   

When generating an Outsider, roll on the table below.


1- Benevolent.  This being is likely labeled an Angel.  It embodies a virtue that is Good, though not everyone might share  that opinion.  To determine what virtue, roll on sub-Table A. 
2- Indifferent.  This being is likely labeled a Spirit.  It embodies an ideal or represents a concept that is not inherently good or bad, though not everyone might share that opinion.  To determine what that ideal is, roll on sub-Table B. 
3- Malicious.  This being is likely labeled a Demon.  It embodies a vice that is Bad, though not everyone might share that opinion.  To determine what vice, roll on sub-Table C.

<Referee's Note>

When I use the terms Good or Bad here, I am referring to the Outsider's position relative to the absolute Moral Law, which is real in Nukaria and binds all conscious beings.  However, just because an Outsider embodies a good virtue doesn't necessarily mean a culture will think it good.  For example, in a culture that values sexual freedom, an Angel of Chastity is not going to find a warm welcome.  Similarly, in a culture that values rebellion and revenge under the guise of "justice", a Demon of Vengeance will probably be warmly received, no matter how many necks he breaks.

</Referee's Note>

sub-Table A:

This Angel is an Exemplar of...


1- Prudence.
2- Justice.
3- Fortitude.
4- Temperance.
5- Honesty.
6- Diligence.
7- Self-Control.
8- Friendship.
9- Zeal.
10- Generosity.
11- Kindness.
12- Grace.
13- Mercy.
14- Patience.
15- Peace.
16- Joy.
17- Faith.
18- Hope.
19- Magnanimity.
20- Charity/Love.   

sub-Table B:

This Spirit is an embodiment of...


1- The natural process of the young surpassing the old; likely embodies some aspect of fire, floods, jungles.
2- The turning of the seasons.  Decide which season the Outsider embodies or roll 1d4 [1= Winter; 2= Spring; 3= Summer; 4= Fall.]
3- The struggle between predator and prey; likely embodies some aspect of predatory animals, human hunters, traps.
4- The desire to reproduce.
5- The Weather.  Select one type of Weather that the Outsider embodies an aspect of or roll 1dX [1= Rain; 2= Sun; 3= Overcast; 4= Thunderstorm; 5= Hailstorm; 6= Tornado.]
6- Sudden, unpredictable change; a twist of fate.
7- Random Tragedy.
8- Fortuna/Chance.
9- Creativity/Genius.
10- The struggle of Man against Nature or vice versa.

sub-Table C:

This Demon is an Avatar of...


1- Sloth.
2- Avarice.
3- Envy.
4- Lust.
5- Wrath.
6- Gluttony.
7- Deceit.
8- Vengeance.
9- Hatred.
10- War/Conflict.
11- Hard-heartedness.
12- Tribalism.
13- Sadism.
14- Selfishness.
15- Murder.
16- Violence.
17- Scorn.
18- Theft.
19- Suicide.
20- Pride.

                                                            by재문 윤

Thursday, March 26, 2020

OSR: Revised Armor Rules

So I realized that in my new combat rules, where you contest enemy attacks by rolling 1d20 + weapon die and the higher number decides whether or not you get hit, AC is vestigal.  So I was tempted to cut it, but at the same time, I felt that Armor does have a place, I just needed to make one.  The idea of no one placing any stock in the armor they wear is silly, unless you're a Barbarian or something like that.  This makes even less sense in a setting where there firearms or even more advanced weapons are available.

As such, I thought about it, then came up with a clever, though unoriginal solution.  It is based heavily off the "Shields will be Splintered" rule.

                                                                 by Tom Edwards Concepts

Ask yourself the following question; could it protect the user from the source of damage?

Potential Types of Damage:
- Telekinetic/Force
- Fire
- Acid
- Electrical
- Psychic
- Ice
- Bludgeoning/Falling
- Sharp
- Necrotic
- Radiant

If No, then the Armor cannot reduce the damage taken.

If Yes, there are three levels of effectiveness for any armor's protective qualities.  The armor might be Not Suited, Capable or Designed. 

Not Suited means the Armor can only offer minimal protection from a certain type of damage.  For example, a kevlar vest meant to stop bullets is largely useless against a dagger, while plate armor is effective against swords but is reduced to a metal bag to keep your insides together against a crossbow, and etc.   

Capable Means that the Armor is at least somewhat effective at reducing the damage from a source.

And Designed means the Armor was designed to mitigate this type of damage. 

Damage Reduction Table:

Not Suited: Reduces damage by 1d6.  Shattering the armor reduces it by 6.
Suited: Reduces damage by 1d8.  Shattering the armor reduces it by 8.
Designed: Reduces damage by 1d10.  Shattering the armor reduces it by 10.

An Armor's Description is written like this:

Armor (X (type of damage) 1dY (die size the damage it is reduced by))

Note the First: All armor in this system follows the "Shields will be splintered" rule.  The Shields will be splintered rule still applies here as well, counting as a type of armor.

Note the Second: I use the term Armor, but not all of this has to explicitly be armor.  For example, a fireproof racing suit could be effective armor against fire damage, while a Spacesuit could effectively protect against cold damage.

Armor (for Fantasy):

- Leather (Sharp 1d8; Bludgeoning 1d6)
- Chain
    + Chain Shirt (Sharp 1d6)
    + Common    (Sharp 1d6; Bludgeoning 1d6)   
    + Riveted    (Sharp 1d8; Bludgeoning 1d6)
- Breastplate (Sharp 1d10)
- Splint (Sharp 1d10; Bludgeoning 1d8)
- Plate (Sharp 1d10; Bludgeoning 1d10)

Armor (for Sci-Fi):

- Diffusion (Lasers 1d10).  Designed to be used as body armor for soldiers primarily fighting enemies equipped with laser weapons.  Come in thin, flexible vests, overcoats that can be placed over ceremonial armor, or entire suits covered in diffusion tiles and grounding lines.

- Ceramic (SP (Solid Projectile) Weapons 1d10; Bludgeoning 1d8).  A layer of interlocking plates that crack and fracture under pressure to stop bullets.  Come in Vests with variable amounts of concealability or in full suits that can cover one from head to toe.

- Stabproof (Sharp 1d8).  Vests or padding designed to stop knives and prevent sharp damage.  Primarily used by constables in places with disarmed populations or security guards defending against common scum without firearms or blink weapons.

- Cushioning (Bludgeoning 1d8).  Not actual armor, this is safety gear designed to protect contractors and laborers working in areas where falls and falling debris are common dangers.  

- Liquiplate or L-plate (Bludgeoning 1d8; SP Weapons 1d6; Sharp 1d6).  Armor made of pockets of smart liquid that compresses and becomes rigid when struck.  When the force is dissipated, the liquid returns to its usual state.  Very expensive but quite effective.

- Personal Energy Screens or "Peas" (Lasers 1d10; Plasma 1d8).  An energy screen is a device that creates a magnetic field around the person wearing one, channeling ionized radiation, lasers or plasma away from the target.  Largely useless at anything else and can be overwhelmed by too much energy and they prevent you from wearing other armor and they don't totally work, but you'll never forget the first time someone fires a point blank laser at you only for it to strike the air an inch before you and harmlessly dissipate. 

- Personal Shield Device (Bludgeoning 1d10; Sharp 1d10; SP 1d10).  These are the cream of the crop, the height of personal armor.  With the push of a button, a wall of mostly translucent energy will form around you and guard you, protecting you from almost anything.  Physical weapons and solid bullets are a joke to you now.  Lasers can still penetrate the shield, which creates tiny distortions in space-time, but these are often wildly inaccurate due to the twisting path they must take through the shield (advantage on all saves vs firearms if its a laser weapon).  Unfortunately, unlike a Screen, this won't protect you from a Powered or a Plasma Weapon, as the former can undo the distortions around you with their own fields and the latter cannot actually penetrate your shield, but doesn't need to, and will just cook you from the outside.    

                                               from Wookiepedia

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

SOS: Random Spaceship Generator

                                             from Star Citizen

To randomly Generate a Ship, roll on the Tables below.

Types of Ship:


1- Shuttles/Airboats.  Also known as Rock-Locked, these are types of ships that are usually only used for orbital or in-atmosphere flight, though they can be used in space.  They never have Emptiness Drives and are usually only used to fly things around in atmosphere or to move things from orbit to surface and vice versa.  The easiest type of ship to fly.
HD: 1d4+1

2- Divers.  Divers are small ships, designed for in-atmosphere flight as well as hard vacuum.  These ships are incredibly fast and agile.  Most void-capable fighter craft are divers.  Some are also sold to the rich as pleasure craft, but due to their small size, most are only suitable to carry 1 to 6 passengers.  They are rarely equipped with Emptiness Drives (10%), but are a favorite for highly mobile professionals and those who need to avoid the law or the Galactic Service.
HD: 1d4+2   

3- Skimmers/Skippers.  This ship is the kind favored by poor merchants, the fabulously wealthy and the criminally inclined alike.  Skimmers sometimes have Emptiness Drives (40% of the time), are capable of fast flight and have enough room to carry some cargo and or up to about a hundred souls, depending on the model.  They are called Skimmers because of a trick their pilots often pull by orbiting a planet and "skimming" just above the planet's exosphere, sling-shotting themselves around the planet and gaining a boost in speed. 
HD: 1d6+4.  

4- Cruisers.  Most mid-range Military vessels are Cruisers.  This is a ship that is about the size of a city block to slightly larger, sufficient to carry several hundred to a thousand souls.  These vessels are slower than Skimmers, but usually make up for it in greater size, toughness and often, firepower.  Cruisers often have Emptiness Drives (50%, 80% if military vessel) and are usually equipped with generous armor and capital-ship weaponry.  
HD: 1d8+6

5- Chartist.  Ships of immense size, almost exclusively designed to carry cargo.  Chartist ships are merchant vessels comparable in size to small towns, though crewed by only a tiny fraction of the population of even a minor town.  They are ponderous vessels, known only for their ability to carry large amounts of cargo.  Chartist Ships rarely have Emptiness Drives (5%) and travel almost exclusively through real-space.  
HD: 1d10+2

6- Hulks.  Hulks are chunks of metal and stone the size of cities, carrying sometimes up to millions of souls.  A Hulk is its one self-contained society, with whole populations living, breeding and dying within its bulk, sometimes never seeing the outside, not in their whole lives.  Hulks sometimes have Emptiness Drives (30%) but just as often, they are restricted to real-space.   
HD: 1d20+4



1- Platsteel.  Add +1d4 to the Ship's HD, depending on how much you add. 
2- Energy Screens.  Reduces the damage of lasers or plasma weapons by 2d10.  Reduces the damage of any explosive or non-kinetic weapon by 2d6.
3- Shields.  Grants the ship a Damage Threshold of anywhere from 4 to 10, depending on how much you spend.  Laser Weapons can pass through the shields without rolling against the Damage Threshold and do damage as normal, but the Ship gains a +4 bonus on its save against the laser shot.  Additionally, while a shield is up, no non-laser weapons can be fired.   
4- Point-Defense.  The Captain may parry damage from kinetic or other solid projectile weapons fired against the ship.  Does damage as per lasers.
5- Stealth Tech.  You can't hit what you can't see.  Your ship is particularly hard to see and thus, by the time the enemy realizes they are being fired upon, they're usually already dead. 
6- Speed.  Your ship is too fast.  Unless you were attacked when unaware, your enemy must reroll their attack roll and take the worse option, unless they can match your speed.      



1- Cyclonic Torpedoes.  2d8 damage on a hit.  These are special ship-to-ship weapons, designed to rip through shields and hulls alike.   
2- Rail Gun.  Do anywhere from 2d10 to 2d20 damage on a hit.  Truly terrible weapons that make mincemeat of planets and ships alike.  Usually only placed on the largest of ships, due to the need for a long track and large amounts of power. 
3- Missiles.  Damage depends on the warhead.  These missiles are 1d6 [1= Nuclear Tipped, highly expensive, super illegal for those without proper permits, 1d10 in space, 2d10 in atmosphere; 2= High Explosive, buy in bulk, 1d8 on a hit; 3= Icindiary, try to use before they lock the crew in the medbay and pump the atmosphere out of the rest of the ship, 1d6 + 1d6 fire a round, consumes oxygen; 4= Bio-Chemical, depends on the payload, incredibly dangerous or relatively annoying, 1d6 + payload; 5= Glassware, contains crystals loaded with viruses and scrap code meant to disable computer systems and AIs, 1d6 + access to their systems; 6= Boarding Pods, carry you and your friends inside, 1d4 to the ship, then whatever havoc you wreack is up to you.] 
4- Sand Canisters.  The poor man's rail gun.  1d6 damage if at close range, 1d8 at medium range, 1d10 at long range.
5- Lasers.  The poorer man's weapon.  Actually quite effective at most things.  2d6 fire damage.
6- Plasma Cannons.  The rich man's laser.  Not as effective as plasma as when it is used as an infantry weapon, but still quite effective.  3d6 fire damage.     

                                                from here
Ship to Ship Combat:
Ships are Monsters, except they can be controlled by the players.

- They get HD from their model and construction
- AC from the helmsman/Captain's skill
- Damage from their weapons
- For Morale and Saving Throws, use the Captain or Helmsman, whoever is in charge at the moment

Secondly, Ship to Ship Combat happens usually at great distance, unless boarding parties are involved.  It is common for Ships to fire upon each other from thousands, if not tens or hundreds of thousands of miles away.  You could be attacked from any direction at any time with no warning, maybe a few seconds at most. 

If a Ship is reduced to zero HP or below, consult the Starcraft Critical Damage table.  For every extra point of damage that would reduce the ship below zero, go down one more:

Starcraft Critical Damage Table:

One Damage:
A huge chunk of armor just got ripped away.  The ship's HD is permanently reduced by 1d6.

Two Damage:
That last hit opened up a small hole.  You're leaking atmosphere.  If you don't plug that hole, you're all dead.

Three Damage:
Your communication array is smashed to bits.  You can't send a message to anyone.  The only way for you to communicate would be if they got extremely close and you used the radios embedded in any space suits you might have aboard.

Four Damage:
One of your weapon systems is damaged.  The Referee will roll randomly to determine which one.  The Captain should roll a save.  On a success, it can be fixed.  On a failure, it will need to be totally replaced.

Five Damage:
A fire has started on board.  Oxygen is being rapidly consumed, plus you have all the normal dangers of fire.  And if the flames don't get you, the smoke inhalation will.

Six Damage:  
A huge hole is torn into the ship, which starts venting atmosphere.  Depending on the size of the ship, the priority might be to get to a different part of the ship and seal this area off or patching the hole.  Either way, try not to get sucked out into the void.

Seven Damage:
The Engines or thrusters are damaged.  The Ship should immediately reroll its place in the initiative order and other ships have advantage on making attacks against it. 

Eight Damage:
The ship's computer core is damage or destroyed.  The Ship has disadvantage on all attack and defense rolls till the damage is repaired. 

Nine Damage:
The Engine is damaged, critically so.  It will need to be shut down for lengthy repairs.  If this isn't done, the reactor will explode and take the whole ship with it.  Abandon ship, now.   

Ten to Fifteen Damage:
The ship suffers critical damage and is torn in two, a huge hole is punched through it, half of it explodes, etc.  It is nothing more than salvage now.  If you haven't already abandoned ship, you're probably already dead.

Sixteen or More Damage:
The ship is blasted into space-dust.  There's nothing left but a cloud of glowing dust and some scraps of metal.

                                              from here

Wednesday, March 11, 2020

SOS: The Powers of the Pirova Sector

Peer pressure is a pain.  I saw Dan D's post on this subject and now I have to post my own list.  These are the Powers for Sea of Stars.  If you don't know what Powers are, then you clearly haven't read this post or listened to enough of The Magnus Archives, a fabulous podcast that is both scary and intriguing.  I highly recommend both.

                                                source unknown

The Smiling God/The Sickly Sun/I-am-Rotten: A blazing light that conceals ugly truths, a deception that is believed either out of choice or because there is no other.  A spotlight and pancaked-on makeup to conceal the fact that your idol is actually a rotting corpse.  You can see the scabarous, peeling flesh, but you don't dare stop smiling. 

The Cage/The Domesticated/I-Am-Shackled: A set of bindings, fitted around your wrists and ankles.  A rope that you thought you could break, but it turns out it was looped around your heart, not just your neck.  The fact that you can leave your oppressors behind, but their teachings will linger in your heart for a long time, maybe forever.  They have shaped you into what they desired and now, you don't know if you can become anything else.  And if you did manage, who would you be then?

The Peak/The Island/I-Am-Prey:  The pitiless, ruthless indifference of Nature.  The vast, concealing depths of the sea or the razor crags of the mountain.  The savagery of wild predators.  The desperate, savage will to live, to do anything to survive.  To release that you might be the prey being hunted.  Or worse, the predator. 

The Masquerade/The Court/I-Am-Awake:  To discover the horrible truths you always suspected, but never knew, only to find out they were worse than you ever realized.  To be awakened to terrible knowledge, to bear the burden of knowing alone.  To be changed by what you understand, to recognize the slavery of your fellows, to know they might not ever understand.  To be welcomed into the Court of the Radiant King.  To recognize him- for you always knew.

The Conspiracy/The Order/I-Am-Secret:  To realize you are being watched, followed, surveilled.  By what or who is unknown, but you know that it is true.  To recognize that things you thought were normal are actually traps.  To realize that your friends, family or allies might be secretly trying to undermine you.  To find out that you are just a puppet, dangling on strings you just now see.  Be careful if you wish to cut them, the puppeteers might notice. 

The Palace/The Luster/I-Am-Higher:  To recognize that there is a vast hierarchy and that you are at the bottom.  To know that you are ruled over by the strong, the ruthless and the malicious.  To know that you are suppressed by those who consider you livestock, mere chattel to be worked until you can provide no more, then to be devoured.  To know that you are ruled by those who claim to be that you are inferior to them and to suspect in your heart that they might be right. 

The Maw/The Void/You-Are-Finished
:  To recognize your own finitude.  To know that you are flawed, limited and mortal.  To recognize that some limits are not surpass-able.  To know that everything ends, everything dies, but usually when it comes it is a mercy.  To recognize that things often go bad long before death, how good men are twisted into villains, how institutions forget their original purpose and become self-serving exclusively, how civilizations slump into decadence and rot from the inside, until they die.  To realize that you are part of the problem and that the decline is irreversible. 

The Ecstasy/The Blaze/I-Am-Struggle:  The clatter of dice on a table, the fiery burn of liquor down your throat, the heat in your loins when you see her in a slinky dress, the thrill of the hunt, the drum-beat of your heart.  To rail against the boring, mundane, decrepit and old.  To live for the moment, for yourself.  To do as your heart commands and ignore the intercession of logic.  To not just exist, but to live.  To call him and let him know how you really feel; to drive over their, court order be damned, to get your kids back; to take a hammer to his new car; to show those bastards why they won't pick on you, or anyone else, anymore.

                                                     source unknown